Hi all,
I hope you have all enjoyed the summer of paddling and we look forward to wrapping up the sprint season with a bang at the Sprint National Championships at Lake Karapiro this weekend. We have paddlers of all ages and abilities lining up and it is great to see some growth across a few different ages and divisions, which reflects good work being done by clubs across Aotearoa.
It has been a great start to 2025 with the Tikitapu 2 regatta and our 2025 NZ Secondary School Championships in February and March, basking in the Rotorua sun with some good racing, vibes and community atmosphere. It’s also been busy with events for ocean ski paddlers with the deciding race of the 2024/25 Darcy Price series coming up in May. We are seeing great event participant growth in a range of disciplines and are actively reviewing our event proposition. If you have any ideas or feedback please send it through to graham@crnz.org
Its been a busy summer for CRNZ and clubs all around the country. Here is an update on a few things that have been happening:
Paris Debrief and LA Performance Strategy
Following a successful Paris Olympics we spent October to December reviewing our high performance strategy to identify key learnings to apply for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics cycle. Key focus areas will be :
- leveraging the learnings of what is working well,
- remaining innovative,
- continuing to build depth in a strong pathway,
- continue to strengthen athlete wellbeing resources and support
- continue to build a tight well supported team.
We have been rewarded with recent success and been supported in our LA Strategy with an increase in our core funding from High Performance Sport. We are incredibly thankful for the support we receive. The increased funds allow us to continue sending team of a similar size and offset inflation; with reduced utilisation of our cash reserves as has been used in recent years.
One of the learnings in the Paris cycle and in reviews was that we enjoy working together as a unified team. To act on the feedback received and ensure the best utilisation of our resources, we are trialing the men’s kayak team operating out of an Auckland performance hub for the next six months. Cambridge remains a critical hub for administration, the development programme, elite training camps, performance systems and equipment.
Surf Life Saving, Waka Ama and Canoe Slalom collaboration progress
Through a range of initiatives such as events, high performance, coaching, and talent ID we are working together closely with other paddle sports and national sporting organisations. We are seeing good results in this approach with increased depth of participant numbers, increased event participant numbers, improved experiences of athletes, and a broadening of our community of paddlers. Thank you to all clubs, coaches and administrators who continue to grow the spirit of paddling. We have also relaxed the craft-based criteria at our events to allow a range of paddling craft to enter our events in the Unlimited Division, we expect this division to grow over time and perhaps transition some athletes across to traditional craft at the right stage and time.
2024 CRNZ AGM
The CRNZ AGM is coming up on Friday 11 April at Lake Karapiro and we look forward to updating club delegates on the work done in 2024.
2024 Canoe Racing NZ Annual Report
CRNZ Potential Rename
Canoe Racing NZ are considering updating the name of our organisation to be better reflect who we are as a community and what we do. We’d love to hear your creative ideas. Please email graham@crnz.org to join the conversation and shape the future of CRNZ.
New CRNZ Code Of Conduct
We continue to improve the policies required to deliver fair, equitable and safe sport. The new Code of Conduct is our latest policy which we hope will provide a framework for expected behaviours and conduct for everyone involved in our sport.
Paddler Portal
There are now over 700 users on the CRNZ Paddler Portal, with many clubs now using it as their membership platform and event management system. This free CRM aims to reduce clubs’ administration time and cost and improve the user experience for paddlers entering events, signing up for courses and joining clubs.
Secondary Schools Kayaking Championships 2025
It is pleasing to see our next generation of paddlers representing their schools at the 2nd annual NZ Secondary Schools Kayaking Championships a couple of weeks ago, and especially cool to see new participants getting involved and having success. We see this is an important strategic event to develop a strong school paddling scene and provide an opportunity for paddlers to represent their school and is a great follow on event for Aims Games participants. We encourage clubs, coaches, parents and students to connect with local secondary school sports coordinators and use the event as an opportunity to profile paddling and grow paddling at your club and schools for the next year.
CEO Club visits
Throughout the last 19 months I have been able to paddle at many clubs across the country. It would be great to connect with more clubs over the winter and would like to open the opportunity up to come visit your club. Please email graham@crnz.org if you’d like to discuss some of the good work and opportunities and/or challenges that you are experiencing in your club
We are looking forward to connecting with clubs and paddlers over the next few days at Sprint Nationals, and celebrating the development and achievements of our club paddlers and another summer of paddling.
Ngā mihi,
Graham
